'Hangover,' 'Up,' 'Locker' top ACE honors

'Hurt Locker' wins Eddie for dramatic-film editing

The editors of "The Hurt Locker," "The Hangover" and "Up" won feature film competitions Sunday at the 60th annual American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards at the Beverly Hilton.

"The Hurt Locker" editors, husband-and-wife team Bob Murawski and Chris Innis, earned the trophy for a dramatic film, topping a category that included "Avatar," "District 9," "Star Trek" and "Up in the Air."

"It's a great way to spend Valentine's Day, to win an award with my wife," Murawski said onstage, adding with a smile, "she did most of the work."

"The Hangover" editor Debra Neil-Fisher, ACE, topped the category for comedy or musical, which included nominees "500 Days of Summer," "Julie & Julia," "A Serious Man" and "It's Complicated."

Editor Kevin Nolting earned the award for best edited animated feature for "Up," leading a group that included "Coraline" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Additionally, "The Cove" editor Geoffrey Richman won best edited documentary, a category rounded out by nominees "Food, Inc." and "This Is It."

An Eddie award winner often goes on to win the Oscar for editing. This year, only Eddie winner "The Hurt Locker" is also nominated for an Oscar in the category. The Academy Awards' editing nominees this year also include "Avatar" and "District 9," both of which were Eddie nominees, "Inglourious Basterds" and "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."

Christopher Guest presented Rob Reiner with the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year award. With a nod to their collaboration "This Is Spinal Tap," Reiner commented that he and Guest "have a friendship that goes way past 11."

Paul F. LaMastra, ACE, and Neil Travis, ACE, were honored with career achievement awards. LaMastra's career in television editing includes Primetime Emmys for "Caroline?" in 1990 and "Wallenberg: A Hero's Story" in 1985. Travis won an Oscar and ACE Eddie for "Dances With Wolves."

"Editors are the unsung heroes of film," said Joel McHale of NBC's "Community," who hosted the ceremony. "When the material is good, you help make it the masterpiece that it is. When it is bad, you are like a shock trauma doctor trying to save a patient who has been shot nine times and hit by a tractor."

ACE president Randy Roberts presented the organization's first technical excellence award to Avid Technology for its nonlinear editing system, the Media Composer, which during the early '90s played a pivotal role in transitioning the industry from film to computer-based editing and today remains an industry leader.

"You have seen the product transform from a machine taking up half the room to being able to run on a laptop," Avid CEO Gary Greenfield said, thanking the editors. "You have challenged, and continue to challenge us, to get better. A few years ago, a group of ACE board members reach out to Avid and gave us some very powerful, very eye-opening feedback. Avid's success today is based on one thing: Listening to you."